Road Safety Support (RSS) is a not-for-profit company providing specialist services to local authorities and police to reduce road casualties. They are based in Billericay, Essex.

RSS had received enquiries from many countries around the world

Going to many conferences throughout the world, the company had collected a lot of contacts in a wide range of countries. “Like many small businesses, we don’t have a big marketing budget”, explained Adam Briggs, RSS’s Senior Overseas Adviser. RSS knew they were unlikely to be successful with a ‘scattergun’ approach of trying to win business in all these countries.

Road Safety Support provides help in road safety, enforcement technology and prosecution to reduce casualties.

“We needed to prioritise where we were likely to have most impact”

Through their International Trade Adviser (ITA), John Tingle, Adam learned about UKTI’s Export Marketing Research Scheme (EMRS). The EMRS provides professional advice to encourage businesses to undertake market research before approaching overseas markets for sales. Adam arranged to meet with Alice Mamier, Research Adviser for the East of England.

“You have an instinctive view but EMRS clarified this in a methodical and logical way”

Between them, Alice and Adam identified the key criteria that would influence the likely demand for RSS’s services and those which would make for an easier market to target. “Clearly we needed to identify markets with casualty issues”, said Adam, “but we also needed to consider countries which actually have the funding – targeting countries with need but no funding is not going result in good business!”

Basing their discussions around UKTI’s online Market Selection Tool and using robust data to inform the decisions, Alice and Adam were able to filter out the countries which were likely to offer an opportunity and those which were not. They key countries of interest were found to be: Oman, Qatar and Malaysia.

RSS decided to explore the Malaysian Opportunity

Shortly after the market selection exercise, RSS received a speculative enquiry from Malaysia and decided to investigate further to ensure their pitch was appropriate.

With help and support from Alice at the EMRS, Adam put together a plan for a trip to Malaysia. The purpose of the trip was to understand the context of RSS’s service in the Malaysian market and therefore adapt their offering accordingly. Adam spent two-weeks in the country, interviewing a wide range of people who understood the market and shared their experiences.

Within a year, RSS secured three lucrative pieces of work

By focusing on this key market and ensuring their proposition was appropriate, RSS won several significant pieces of business and have secured a good contract with future prospects. “The market selection support really clarified our thinking”, explained Adam, “and helped us to focus so we could prioritise our time where it got results!”
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